El Paso-Gridley is going to the Monmouth Supersectional with a convincing 62-45 victory Thursday over Sherrard at the Orion Class 2A Sectional.

It is the first sectional title for EPG in either girls or boys basketball.

“I told them they had an opportunity to go into uncharted territory,” said EPG coach Kyle Bobbitt. “We came into the season wanting to dream big. Why not us?”

The Titans (28-1) will meet Byron, a 58-38 winner over St. Bede at the Somonauk Sectional, in Monday’s Elite Eight battle at Glennie Gymnasium at Monmouth College.

El Paso-Gridley led all the way in the program’s biggest win so far.

Rebekah Ehresman’s defensive savvy and offensive prowess guided EPG.

The junior set the defensive tone early with three steals that she converted into easy scores.

EPG led 10-3 with 3:15 left in the opening eight minutes and 14-9 after a quarter.

Sherrard (27-4) pulled within two points three times in the second quarter before an Ehresman 3-pointer helped the Titans take a 24-21 lead at halftime.

“Rebekah has an instinct about knowing where to be. She reads things so well,” Bobbitt said. “We kind of go off how she plays. If she is playing well, our other girls seem to play well.”

Ehresman finished with 26 points, 8 rebounds, a half-dozen steals and who knows how many mental mistakes she forced upon the Sherrard.

“Her defense, those steals, set us back. Kind of got us out of our rhythm,” said Sherrard coach Doug Swanson. “We weren’t as aggressive as we should have been, and it just set a tone for the game.”

Still, El Paso-Gridley wasn’t on its way yet.

“I told them at halftime, even though we were up, there are still two battles left in this war,” Bobbitt said. “I thought we had (Sherrard) on the edge and I told the girls they had to come out with a little fire and take it from them.”

EPG responded by holding Sherrard without a basket for nearly six minutes while expanding its three-point halftime lead to 37-24 with 2:34 left in the third.

The Titans led 42-29 after three periods and upped that to 56-34 with five minutes left in the game.

Page 2 of 2 - “We just kicked it up a gear there in the third and I think we broke their confidence a little bit,” Bobbitt said. “Sherrard is a very good team, well disciplined and well coached. Our girls, though, were ready for the battle.”

Jenna Souhrada added 15 for EPG.

Carly Adams had 18 for Sherrard, which lost its third consecutive sectional title game.